Yet another PU comparison (FC, Realist, Ehrlund, Schatten & mics)

Hi! It seems like a long time since the last "guess which pickup I recorded" kind of thread, and since I've been wanting to do a benchmark of my pickups for a long time, I figured now would a good time to contribute. I found these threads to be one of the most valuable resources when it comes to choosing my gear so let's add so more samples to the mix.

Methodology:I've mounted all of my pickups on my bass and set up a minimal but decent recording environment on a small room. Each take was recorded separately, playing a two octaves G major scale pizzicato (I wanted to keep it as short and neutral as possible). I did some very minimal EQing and gain adjustments in order to normalize the tracks before recording, but just slightly and there is no postprod at all. Please forgive my sloppy timing, I recorded those clips quick and dirty, without a metronome. There is also a rattle from time to time, coming from a loose screw on a PU jack I think. Perhaps I should have double checked the setup more carefully before pressing the REC button. Anyways, I hope this will still be useful to some of you.

Really thought all of those would be useable on a gig. Number two was the one that was sort of tinny and thin sounding. Five and six were my favorites though with my bass I would've liked all except two as I noted before.

Plug it in an amp and everything is usable really. At this point you're choosing what you'd like to hear. The choices made by posters here is probably based off of what they want in their sound. It's the only way to explain why there are opposites in tastes.

I went quickly through the first few seconds of each clip and my favs were 4 and 6.

Click to expand...

After listening to the full clips again #6 is my favorite but I think that all of them could be used in a real life situation. Then other factors as amplification, feedback, bow tone, etc. would come into the equation.

I am familiar with all the strings you used.
Sample 4 was the only one that I liked.
3 and 7 did not sound very good.
The rest were mediocre.
4 days to go before we find out which is which ....the suspense is killing me.

There are other explanations. We're listening to these clips on a variety of systems. While some of the sonic characteristics are relatively stable across them, others are likely not to be. Played on different systems, I suspect that many people's preferences would change.

Keep in mind that the sound of the transducers, the positions of which can be changed (e.g., Ehrlund and mics), depends heavily on where Adagio chose to place them. The Ehrlund, for example, can sound spectacular in one position and like dog doo in another. We're getting only a sample of one position and our different preferences would likely have many of us placing them at different locations.